Kenzi Rose Garden

⭐ 1 star – Extremely disappointing experience We chose this hotel for a family holiday to celebrate our youngest daughter’s first birthday. We travelled with our two young children (aged 1 and 2) and my parents-in-law, hoping to create some special family memories. Unfortunately, the experience was extremely stressful and fell well below what we expected from a five-star hotel. From arrival, the service was disappointing. Reception staff were unwelcoming, we were initially given incorrect information about our half-board booking, and virtually no information was provided about the hotel’s facilities or restaurants. There were also serious room and safety issues. My parents-in-law’s room had faulty air conditioning and a strong smell of cigarette smoke, yet they had to wait until the following day even to request another room. The hotel’s ironing facilities were in another building and had broken equipment, damaged irons and loose electrical sockets. One of the irons actually burned my shirt and my daughter’s clothing, causing around £40 of damage. Most concerningly, the heavy coffee table in our room was not securely fixed. When our one-year-old daughter used it to pull herself up, the entire table toppled onto her. Thankfully she was not seriously injured, but this was an extremely frightening incident and could easily have resulted in a much more serious injury. There were further issues with staff and communication throughout the stay. We experienced repeated confusion over our board basis, drinks, lunch arrangements and complimentary meals. On several occasions, staff spoke about us in Arabic while standing nearby, which I found particularly disrespectful as I understand some Arabic. On our final day, we had written confirmation from Guest Relations that our lunch was complimentary. Despite this, we were eventually charged 1,200 MAD. When we challenged the charge and showed the written authorisation, the hotel director suggested that we had altered the date or attempted to use the authorisation twice, rather than resolving the matter. We paid under protest and were refused a refund. To make matters worse, my wife’s meal contained a dead insect. General cleanliness was also disappointing, with dirty hallway carpets covered in hair and debris. This was simply not what we expected from a property marketed as five-star. There were some genuinely good members of staff — particularly the chefs, housekeeping team and luggage attendants, who were consistently helpful and professional. Unfortunately, their efforts were overshadowed by the numerous problems elsewhere. What should have been a special first-birthday celebration became a very upsetting and stressful family holiday. The combination of poor customer service, hygiene concerns, safety hazards, damaged belongings, the incident involving our daughter and the disputed 1,200 MAD charge made this one of our most disappointing hotel experiences. Based on our experience, we cannot recommend this hotel, particularly to families with young children. Our expectations were reasonable, but the standard of service, safety and overall experience fell significantly short of what we would expect from a five-star property.

The hotel is marketed as 5-star but the overall condition doesn't reflect that — it's in need of a refurbishment to genuinely justify the rating. Breakfast (6-10am) was underwhelming: on excursion mornings I went at 7am and the live cooking stations weren't even open yet, and even later in the day the pastries and fruit tasted stale, like they weren't being freshly replenished.

As a solo traveller, I also noticed a difference in treatment at the hotel bar — other guests were given complimentary nibbles with their drinks, while I received none.

The worst part of the stay was checkout day. I'd confirmed at the start of my holiday and again on the day that a shower would be available before my evening flight. By 4:45pm, with my airport pickup at 5pm, I still hadn't been able to use one and asked for even a pool towel to freshen up. I was told to go and get one myself, which wasn't possible with 15 minutes left. When I mentioned I'd first raised this two hours earlier, reception denied the conversation had happened at all. I was passed between reception and concierge, given conflicting information throughout, and ultimately told "we are a reception, we don't help people."

Staff customer service training and a proper refurbishment would go a long way here. Unfortunately this didn't feel like a 5-star experience at any point during my stay.